What You Need to Know about Glastonbury 2022

Glastonbury returns this week for the first time in three years, and it promises to be another momentous spectacle of musical talent and culture.

The much-anticipated festival will be welcoming back music fans to celebrate its 50th anniversary after the pandemic forced organisers to cancel twice.

The festivities will take place from Wednesday to Sunday, and if you are an attendee or will be watching from afar, here is what you need to know:

– Who are the headline acts?

The festival has ensured a star-studded line-up for its triumphant return with Sir Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish headlining across the weekend.

Eilish, 20, will headline on Friday, becoming the festival’s youngest ever solo headliner, and former Beatle Sir Paul will front Saturday night – the second time he has headlined the Pyramid Stage after a performance in 2004.

American rapper Lamar will make his debut at the festival while closing proceedings on the Sunday, while Diana Ross will play the legends slot.

The music bill also includes new acts such as Arlo Parks, Doja Cat, Easy Life, Fontaines DC and Griff, alongside established names including Crowded House, Primal Scream and Supergrass.

Ukrainian acts including this year’s Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra will take to the site as well as 2016 Eurovision winner Jamala, who will bring an anti-war message to the site.

– Where can you watch the action on TV?

The BBC will bring audiences at home coverage of the festival across all four of their linear TV networks – BBC One, Two, Three and Four – as well as BBC iPlayer and online.

There are a plethora of stages at Glastonbury and while the broadcaster will not be covering them all, it will provide content from headline shows on the Pyramid Stage to emerging artists on the BBC Music Introducing stage.

Presenter Lauren Laverne will kick off broadcasting from the gates of Worthy Farm on BBC Two at 10am on Thursday as the first festival-goers enter the site.

Performance coverage begins on Friday with sets throughout the evening across BBC Two, Three and Four – with headliner Eilish being broadcast from 10pm on BBC Two.

Saturday and Sunday will see highlights from artists’ sets aired across the four channels, with Sir Paul’s headline performance broadcasting from 10.30pm on BBC One.

While soul singer Ross will be aired on BBC One from 6.45pm and Lamar will be aired on BBC Two from 9.30pm.

All programmes will be available after broadcast on iPlayer and the BBC’s dedicated Glastonbury channel is also set to launch on Thursday, presenting a four-day stream of live performances and preview programmes.

– What radio stations will be airing Glastonbury content?

Fans of radio will be treated to “All Day Glastonbury” which will air on 6 Music everyday from Wednesday to Sunday to celebrate the festival.

The network will play the best of the live sets throughout the festival across the whole weekend.

6 Music’s coverage will also include interviews with artists and it will play tracks and former sets by acts who have previously played at Glastonbury during the night hours.

There will also be additional coverage on Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2 and BBC Sounds throughout the weekend.

On Friday, The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2 will air live from Glastonbury from 7am, featuring live music and artist interviews, and Vick Hope will provide regular updates from Worthy Farm to Radio 1 each day.

Saturday will see Dermot O’Leary presenting live from the farm on Radio 2 from 5pm, Tiffany Calver and DJ Target taking over Radio 1 & 1Xtra from 9pm and OJ Borg’s show on Radio 2 from 9pm will include Sir Paul’s performance on the Pyramid Stage.

The festival’s final day on Sunday will see Jo Whiley on Radio 2 from 7pm for highlights of Diana Ross’ set and Tiffany Calver will be back on Radio 1Xtra from 9pm to bring listeners to Lamar’s live performance.

– Comedy and culture available during the festival

Aside from a host of musicians, the festival will feature talks, activities and artistic events.

Among the unique things on offer is an ultra-realistic humanoid robot which has painted portraits of the headline acts.

Ai-Da Robot is set to attend the festival and will appear as an artist in the festival’s Shangri La field, where she will be giving live demonstrations of her painting skills.

A documentary about the contemporary artist and activist Ai WeiWei will be also exclusively screened at Glastonbury, which will reveal details about his childhood.

There will also talks about climate change, Black Lives Matter and Russia.

Glastonbury 2022 takes place from June 22 to June 26 and tickets are sold out.